


The Promise

by yangji



Series: Some Birds Aren't Meant to Be Caged [7]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, nejihina - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 10:19:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19249198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yangji/pseuds/yangji
Summary: They were allies waiting to happen. And shinobi willing to die. For a promise.





	The Promise

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written: October 5th, 2013, recently edited.
> 
> The only thing I've ever written about Neji's death.

How many times had they thought to leave; to drop all pretenses of a prestigious family; to escape the cage of expectations, blood lines, and tradition? They could live together alone, away. Forget the obligations which had been thrusted upon them in birth.

But he had promised.

The blonde youth had opened his big mouth and made outrageous promises to fix their family when he barely understood the functions of a normal family, let alone the Hyuuga. And they had been bigger idiots and believed him. They found it hard not to after everything he’d done, and continued to do, for those who had shunned him for so long.

Discovering the same burgeoning hope for the village reject in each other, they had grown closer. And who else would help them to infiltrate and dismantle the bureaucracy of Main and Branch blood but each other? She was to rule them one day, and he was her protector. They were allies waiting to happen.

And shinobi willing to die. For a promise.

_He was her obsession. And when she no longer loved the hot tempered jyuubi, she became concerned with keeping him safe for the security of the village and the promise for their future. No matter how much Hinata loved Neji, Naruto would remain an obsession of peace. She might have argued that she was more loyal to Naruto than Neji to her._

An argument that she lost.

_She was so prepared, bracing herself for the impact of soft splinters ripping through flesh. For the upheaval of thick, slick blood in her mouth to paint her lips and chin bright against the pale of her skin. Naruto’s surprised face was burned into the back of her retinas and as she closed her eyes to accept the impact, she smiled knowing that they had kept him safe._

**They might have been equal in their loyalty, but he had love on his side.**

_How could a body flop like that? He was a ragdoll in the air, neck snapping back from the sheer force of impact and then collapsing into Naruto’s arms. The taste of blood ghosted her mouth, the phantom gurgling in the back of her throat where fate had misjudged and gone after the wrong Hyuuga._

**It wasn’t so bad really. He got to see her face and smile for her, to remind her to keep smiling too. He gave Naruto the last bit of morale he needed to win the battle and he trusted Hinata to keep pushing for Naruto, to believe in him no matter the consequences. If Naruto were to fail and disappoint her, he thought, his life would surely be lost.**

**And it really wasn’t so bad. She had freed him long before.**


End file.
